Lucky Wijayaratne was born on 30 October 1944 to a well respected family in
Galle and his father was a reputed ayurvedic physician in the area. He was educated at
Mahinda College, Galle, where he was a member of the school Cadet Corps. After finishing the school education he opted for the military service on 26 March 1964, after joining the Sri Lanka Army as a Cadet Officer in the
Sri Lanka Military Academy. After completing the initial training successfully he was proceeded to the
Pakistan Military Academy for advanced training. He followed many military courses, both in Sri Lanka and overseas and his high performance levels at those military training centres earned him a scholarship for postgraduate studies (MSc.) in Strategic Warfare at
Aberdeen University in Scotland. During his military career, he began to perform well since the early days he joined as a commissioned officer in the
Sri Lanka Light Infantry. After he was promoted to the rank of
Lieutenant Colonel on 20 July 1985, he had the opportunity to serve as the Commandant of Infantry Training School at Minneriya, Staff Officer-I at Joint Operations Headquarters, Coordinating Officer for Uva, Matara and Trincomalee, Commanding Officer, 1 SLLI, etc. Lucky Wijayaratne was an officer who believed in strict discipline, commitment and dedication to achieve success in all assignments he was entrusted. He was well endowed with a keen foresight which helped him to pre-empt many possible impending enemy attacks with the operations he carefully planned and carried out in the battlefield, specially against the
LTTE. ==Death==